hmn4858

If it has a proven track record it really doesn't matter where it comes from. Quality in quality out. Low blow calling US auto workers uneducated. Not everyone can afford to go to college. There's way more that goes into manufacturing than the guy (or gal) at the end putting the thing together. If your engineering dept sucks your vehicle is going to suck. You use cheap parts and third tier manufacturers for your components, it's going to suck. Period. America had some of the most skilled manufacturing labor in the world. Yea for outsourcing.

The G Man

The 2002 Acura MDX had a waiting list for a whole year when it 1st came out, but unfortunately, the transmission started failing soon after. MDX wasnt the only Acura with that problem becuase Acura and Honda use that transmission on a quite a few of their models. Acura redeisgn the MDX's transmssion in 2004 and the transmssion problem was resolved.

jeff968

I'm glad Acura finally got the transmission sorted out. But then my brother lost his A/C compressor, some front suspension components, and the shifter broke so he couldn't put his new transmission into gear. Good old Acura quality. Thank god I went with the ML. I was able to give him rides to the Acura dealer for all the repairs.

The G Man

On the opposite end, I have heard of ML owners that have a list of problem that makes your brother's list seem short. Mercedes, as well as Audi and BMW also had their share of major problems and recalls.

Rafale

To get back to the original subject. I just acquired a new Q5 2.0T P+ with Nav this week. It seems all the cars in the lot were all either Brilliant black or Ibis white. I picked up the only car not with these two colors I found out of searching our two dealerships in the area... I was about to order one but got sold by a small discount offered for the car off the lot. Wish I had the B&O sound rather than 19" wheel option but oh well. I can live with it. So far I am not a big fan of the MMI after using the BMW iDrive on my Z4... I find it unintuitive and overly complicated.

Rafale

Ohh and I did notice that these cars were selling like hot cakes. I checked the inventory of both dealers 2 weeks ago. 10 cars were sold in 5 days... Only remaining cars were 3.2s...

jeff968

Well, "hearing" and actually experiencing are 2 different things. I was an actual MB ML owner for 9 years and am speaking from actual ownership experience. The stockpile of replacement transmissions at the Acura dealer says a lot as well. Good old Acura quality!!!

The G Man

That’s not always the case, you are just one owner out of millions. The actually experience of owners are recorded by many companies who compiles reliability data such as JD Powers. You can pretty much look at any one of these companies reliability report and you will find Acura in general is more reliable than MB.
What you are doing is taking a certain year of one particular model of Acura and comparing that a certain year of one particular model of ML and concluding from just those 2 specific model and year that ML in general is more reliable than Acura.